Explore in-depth reports, stories and investigations from CalMatters.
Trial by fire: The trauma of fighting California’s wildfires →
California’s firefighters describe a broken and depleted fire service suffering a hidden, smoldering crisis. Across the state, Cal Fire crews that fight wildfires opened up to tell CalMatters their heart-wrenching stories — exhaustion on the firelines, weeks on duty without respite, suicidal thoughts, never-ending trauma and the terror and pain...
No deliveries →
Maternity-care deserts are spreading in California. Hospitals have closed or indefinitely suspended nearly 50 maternity wards over the last decade, often citing high costs, labor shortages and declining birth rates. The trend accelerated in the last four years and has left large swaths of the state without a place to...
Race to Zero: California's bumpy road to electrify cars and trucks →
California is about to undergo a transformation like none other. In less than four years, more than a third of all new cars purchased in California must be zero-emissions, and beginning with 2035 models, no new gasoline-powered cars will be sold in the nation’s most populous state. In this series,...
Locked Up and Dying →
California jails are holding fewer people than they have in decades, but they are deadlier than ever. The number of people dying surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then a wave of overdoses and suicides kept death rates at record levels. “The vast majority of these deaths are preventable,” one expert...
Hidden Hazards: Toxic waste in California →
California has a hazardous waste problem. The state makes a lot of it, millions of tons a year in electronic detritus, corrosive chemicals, old batteries, harmful shampoos and more. The waste has to go somewhere, and no one wants a new landfill in their backyard. Since 2010, nearly half of...
California’s unemployment crash →
Behind the scenes at the state Capitol, California is launching an unprecedented $1.2 billion overhaul of its battered job safety net. Its Employment Development Department — better known as the EDD — is attempting to rebuild its unemployment and disability systems as it recovers from a pandemic that left millions...
Harnessing a Windfall →
Ocean waters off California’s coast will host a massive experiment: Floating platforms with giant turbines and spinning rotors will capture the Pacific Ocean’s prodigious wind energy. Large expanses of ocean about 20 miles off the coast of Humboldt County and Morro Bay have been leased to five energy companies. Never...
The Teacher Turnover Trap →
At California schools with many students living in poverty, working conditions are challenging, especially for newer teachers. Novices might start their careers at these schools, but they often move on to schools in more affluent communities after picking up a few years of experience. The turnover leaves fewer experienced teachers...
On the edge: Can California heal its mental health system? →
Stress. Anxiety. Numbness. Pain. All of it has been building for years. How could it not? Climate-change-fueled wildfires. School shootings. Political polarization. Racism. Transphobia. War. A pandemic marked by immeasurable loss. Some of us find help. Too many of us don’t. Our state now teeters on a precipice between despair...
Unpaid Wages: A Waiting Game →
California has a wage theft problem, experts say — particularly among its immigrant, minority and least educated workers. Many of them are struggling just to be paid every dollar they earn. Last year nearly 19,000 workers filed claims with the state alleging wage theft by their employers. Some said their...
Lagging behind: Cal State's education of Black students →
The California State University system struggles to do right by its Black students, who graduate at far lower rates than the systemwide average. It’s a major blemish for what’s otherwise a modern success story — a constellation of 23 universities providing more than 400,000 undergraduate students annually with affordable degree...
Money trail: California’s pandemic riches →
The pandemic has been a surprising – and unprecedented – boon for California government in the form of money. Lots of it. The state has gotten more than $600 billion in federal stimulus funds with roughly 40% of it going to, or passing through, the state government. Higher than expected...
Fighting for justice in California’s polluted places →
California’s notoriously polluted air has been getting cleaner for half a century — but not enough, and not for everyone. Millions of Californians still breathe dangerous smog, fine particles and toxic fumes. Over four years ago, California passed a controversial law aimed at tackling generations of environmental injustices that have...
Sick and Tired: Omicron Overwhelms California Workers →
As the highly contagious COVID-19 omicron variant blankets California, more workers are getting sick, and in some cases, dying. The state is facing an unprecedented number of cases, with daily averages more than 7 times that of the peak of the delta variant wave. These numbers may underestimate the true...
Outgunned →
California is struggling to recover illegally owned firearms, despite some of the strictest gun control laws in the country. For more than a decade, the state has tried to recover guns from people who possess a registered firearm even though they have lost their Second Amendment rights because of a...